What the Heck is SEO

Its no secret that the customer base for many businesses has moved online. This is especially true of the real estate market. The number of buyers shopping online has steadily increased yearly for several years. Now, that number has reached 87% according to the 2008 National Association of Realtors(R) Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, making an effective online marketing campaign essential if you want your business to continue to grow.

So, how do you get noticed on the world wide web?

One essential is SEO. Just what is SEO? Do I need one? Where do I get one? Is it easy to use? Does it come with instructions or , even better, a hotline? If you are one of the many who ask yourself questions like this, then read on…

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is essential if you want your website and online marketing to be found on the internet. It is based on a couple of things – one is what people search for on the web, the other is how relevant your information is to that search.

Here is how it works:

You are a real estate agent marketing your listings online. You are located in Shreveport, La. Your website should include information about real estate in your city, your listings, information on your local market and so on. When a home buyer sits down at their computer to learn more about what is available they will search for something like “homes for sale with virtual tours in Shreveport”. The results they will receive will include websites that have virtual tours of homes for sale in Shreveport. Whether or not your marketing will appear in the results depends on how relevant your content is to this search.

Google Search Results

Viewers will look at those sites that appear on the first or maybe second page of the search results. Rarely do they view information found on page 10 of the results. Therefore, placing content on the web that is directly related to your business or product is essential to being found. But it is also essential to establish that information as being relevant to the topic. This is done many ways such as linking to other related information from your website, having other information linking back to you, visits to your website by interested people, etc.

SEO is a driving force in effective online marketing.

Creating a volume of relevant content on the web can be a time consuming effort; however, the effort is well worth it when you consider the market share available to be reached.

If your time is already spread thin, then you may want to consider hiring someone to help. Ark-La-Tex Virtual Tours has optimized all of our online marketing on behalf of our clients in order to help drive them to the top of the search results and to create related relevant content on the web. Contact us today to learn more.